Chloroform Perfume
by Kittocence
Summary: The Xiaolin monks discover that Jack has been kidnapped, but by who? And why? And do they really want to save him?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Xiaolin Showdown.

_Clank. Clank. Clank. Fssssssss!_

The redhead worked busily at his latest creation, turning the large, metallic barrel noisily before welding the next part together, a spray of sparks flying up around his face. His goggles were down, peripheral vision blocked, not that it mattered anyway. His focus was such that a herd of elephants could have paraded past and he would not have paid it any mind if it didn't interfere with his administrations. Rather, it was the simple things that would snap him from his trance. A loose bolt.

Turning off his welder, Jack set it aside for a moment and reached for his wrench and felt…table. Turning his head to try and spot it, Jack was surprised to see nothing there. He _knew _it had been right there. Blinking, he lifted his goggles, trying to get a better view of his surroundings. His jackbots were still, standing off to the side, looking perfectly innocent. Why would they take his wrench? Unless they were conspiring against him. He wouldn't entirely put it past them after they cheered on Robo-Jack.

"If any of you guys took my wrench, give it back or I'll dismantle you when I find out which of you did it!" Jack said, glaring at each of them in an attempt to get them to hand over the wrench. None of them did, they simply glanced at each other in mild confusion, even checking their own compartments to make absolutely _certain_ they didn't have anything that would get them dismantled. No, they didn't do it, and that meant he wasn't alone. "Wuya?" She and the others always treated his basement like they were all invited to drop in whenever they wanted, even when they weren't working with him. He wouldn't put it past them to have shown up and walked off with something. He bet Wuya didn't even know what a wrench _was_, just figured it was something he'd need. And she wasn't the only one that would do that kind of thing. "Ashley?"

Though why would they sneak around? Wuya was more of a 'storm in and make her demands' type, and usually when people were trying to escape detection, they didn't grab something essentially useless to them that was likely to be noticed within a few seconds. Something was wrong, and it was seriously creeping him out.

"Jackbots! Scan the perimeter! I think we have an intruder!"

The robots came to life, hurrying to obey his command as he grabbed his flashlight, flicking it on. While the lab was lit just fine, the chills that ran up Jack's spine and set his hair on end made him want to eliminate even the slightest shadow. Slowly he walked forward, shining the shadow into every man-sized shadow he could find, not even noticing the figure standing right behind him.

His eyes went wide as he felt a hand clasp over his face and he gasped, breathing in the smell of…

_________________________________________________________________________________

"Shen gong wu alert at nine o' clock!" announced the small green dragon.

"Where?"

He pointed. "Over there."

"Oh."

The Omniecho Parrot, a simple wooden bird that could mimic any sound in any place in the world that was happening right at that moment. All you had to do was tell it what you wanted to hear. A very valuable shen gong wu if you needed to pry into others' business or practice your bird calls. Kimiko could think of a few good uses for it, although that might just turn out like the mind reader conch did.

As they walked toward the shen gong wu, apparently unopposed, Omi said, "It seems Jack Spicer does not wish for us to beat him sideways today."

Rai corrected, "Up."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Kimiko said, "This is Jack. He always goes after wu. This is probably a trick."

"But this _is_ Jack…" Clay began.

"You're right. He probably _does_ have a trick, but he'll screw it up on his own even _without _our help."

Walking over to the bird, Kimiko picked it up, turning to the others. "There. Easiest shen go--huh?" Kimiko looked over her shoulder to see a grinning Wuya gripping the bird. "How'd you get here?"

"Oh, got a ride," Wuya said, pointing a thumb at Chase Young, who Kimiko now saw stood behind her, smirking.

Kimiko sighed. "I challenge you--"

Wuya, however, was not content to let Kimiko finish. "No, I challenge _you _to a Xiaolin Showdown. Your falcon's eye against my reversing mirror."

"Fine." Kimiko's eyes narrowed. "What's the challenge?"

Wuya glanced around for a moment before picking up a piece of discarded metal she found on the ground. "Retrieve the jack."

So that's what the piece of metal was. Probably lost by some child that had been playing in the area. Kimiko nodded, and together they yelled, "Gong yi tempai!"

And then the landscape began to shift. A bird flew by, snatching the jack out of Wuya's hand. As it did so, water burst from a rock and soon they had a steadily flowing stream, which the bird dropped the jack into. Between them and the river, and obstacle course of brush and logs formed. They would have to move quickly if they wanted to even reach the river before the jack was lost.

They ran toward the river as fast as they could, jumping over logs and sticks as they went. Kimiko struggling to keep up and failing due to Wuya's longer legs. Well, she'd just have to move them twice as fast then, wouldn't she? With a sudden burst of energy, Kimiko just managed to catch up with Wuya when the ancient witch shoved her to the ground.

"Why you--!" No. No time for insults. Wuya was getting away! Kimiko raced after her, then paused. She wasn't going to catch up with Wuya by just chasing her, and if she wanted to play dirty, Kimiko could do the same. "Wudai Mars -- Fire!"

A blast of fire shot out hitting a bit of brush that stood in Wuya's path, sending it up in flames. Kimiko went a different way, running to the river and diving in while the startled Heylin witch back tracked to get around the rapidly spreading flames. The water was not Kimiko's element, however, so any advantage she had would be gone once Wuya reached the river, so she'd have to move quickly. Swimming as quickly as she could downstream despite the drag her clothes created, and glad she didn't have to go in the other direction, Kimiko stuck her head above the water to cry out, "Falcon's eye!" Diving down, Kimiko used the wu to search the area around her when she saw it, deep under the surface of the water. Still watching it, Kimiko lifted her head above the surface of the water to get one final breath of air before diving after it when she heard a voice.

"Reversing mirror!" And everything through the falcon's eye went black. Instead of allowing her to see what she normally couldn't, now it blocked her from seeing what she normally could. Kimiko shoved the now useless wu into her pocket and glanced around, seeing Wuya not far behind her. She dove under after the jack, hoping it hadn't moved too much and Wuya dove after her, likely realizing that if either of them knew the general location of the jack, it was Kimiko. Fortunately, she found, it had gotten lodged in a tree root. She reached for it and, seeing a well manicured hand join her own, frantically made a grab for it, but in her sudden movement, Kimiko only succeeded in dislodging it, after which it was rapidly whisked downstream by the tide. Kimiko swam forward, kicking Wuya in the face as she did so, lending herself the extra momentum she needed to get closer to the jack as well as slowing Wuya down.

There! She saw it! Almost there…almost there…Kimiko grabbed for it. She missed. She grabbed for it again. Got it!

The showdown was over. The water washed away, and the victorious and dripping Kimiko while the equally wet Wuya glowered at the girl, but joined Chase who teleported her away.

Joining her fellow monks, Kimiko said, "I want to try this out."

"Sure," Raimundo agreed, "but who should we listen in on?"

It didn't take much thought. Kimiko still wondered why Jack hadn't shown up to the showdown, and listening in on him would let them know about any schemes he was currently working on.

"Who else? Omniecho Parrot, let us hear Jack Spicer."

A moment later, the sound of Jack's terrified scream came from the wooden bird.


	2. Chapter 2

Teardrops fell on the paper as her eyes read the words written on it for the millionth time, still having trouble believing what she saw. The note had been on the kitchen table. She didn't know why that made it worse than if it had been in the mail, but it did. The man had been in their _house_. She could just imagine little Jackie going to get himself a bowl of cereal only to be nabbed by a stranger in his own home. Taken. She could imagine the terror he must have gone through as he was attacked in the very place he should have been safest, and it didn't matter if it happened how she imagined, because her son's safety had been shattered, and no one was there to protect him.

"John…" she finally said to the man sitting across from her, "We have to do something. We can't pay the ransom."

Mr. Spicer looked visibly surprised, "What? We have the money, and we've got a _week_ to get it together. We should just give the guy the money so we can get Jack back."

"No. I'm not going to reward someone for taking my son. Besides, we don't even know…" Mrs. Spicer felt her mouth go dry. "We don't even know if he's still alive. Or if he is, if we'll get him back when…"

"But we can't tell the cops, the note says not to tell the cops."

She shrugged. "Then we won't tell the cops." John looked confused. "There's something we can do. There has to be."

Mr. Spicer shook his head. "No, you're deluding yourself. You're making this more complicated than it is. It's a ransom, you give the guy the money, we get Jack back, and aside from a gauge in our wallet, everything's back to normal."

Mrs. Spicer sighed. He didn't understand. This sort of thing wasn't simple. It _couldn't_ be simple. Jack had been kidnapped, and even if everything went according to plan and they got Jack back unharmed, things wouldn't be the same. Having been kidnapped, he could never feel safe in his own home again. And the one who did it…he'd be a million dollars richer. She couldn't tolerate the idea.

"No. You want to pay the ransom? Fine, wait a week and if Jack isn't in our house by then, then follow the instructions we were given. Until then, I'll be tearing the world apart to find him," she finally responded.

"Penelope, don't! If you do something you might just scare the kidnapper. If they panic they could kill Jack! What are you going to do, anyway?"

"I have something in mind."

_________________________________________________________________________

Jack screamed when he saw the broad, muscular figure at the other end of the room and felt that his wrists and ankles were tied to the bedposts. He lay on an old, dingy mattress in an old, dingy room, watched by a not terribly old, but definitely dingy man that, he noted, was missing a few teeth.

"Where am I? What do you want with me?"

Ugly muscle man grinned as he eyed the boy up and down with his beady, greedy little eyes. "What else are rich kids good for? Money."

"Money?" The answer was completely unexpected to Jack, who was so involved with wu hunting and plotting to take over the world that he thought it would be something less…mundane. "I thought it would be something more evil. Or good, maybe."

You never knew. With Jack being evil, it was always a possibility that he could be kidnapped in the name of good. Although…the good weren't usually that big on kidnapping. Still, you could never know for sure.

"You wouldn't consider kidnapping a child for ransom evil?" the man asked.

"Well, yeah, but it's not…evil laugh, flowing cape evil. It's just normal everyday scummy slime evil." Jack didn't know why, but the fact that this guy was on a lower level of evil than Chase Young only came as a little comfort. "So my parents will pay the ransom and I'll get to go home, right?"

The man laughed. "You, my boy, watch _far_ too many children's cartoons. The sort of evil you're talking about isn't real, but yes, I'll pay the ransom and you'll get to go home. I don't want to put up with some rich brat for longer than I have to."

"Is too! I know Wuya, a witch, who is _exactly _that kind of evil, and Chase Young." Jack sighed dreamily at the thought of his evil idol. "He sold his soul for soup, you know."

Now the kidnapper wasn't laughing. He was just staring in an expression that was mostly confusion, but mixed with that was just a hint of intrigue. Jack, it seemed, wasn't behaving as he was expecting a kidnap victim might.

"You know," the kidnapper said, "for a rich kid, you really are crazier than you are bratty."

Jack considered this. Maybe it was something he could make work if he went at it with the right angle. "Mad scientist crazy?"

"Maybe." Perfect, Jack thought. That was totally an angle he could work once he got out. The kidnapper continued, "What were you building when I took you? And where did you _get _that backpack of yours? I tried to open it to see what you had inside and I couldn't. Eventually I managed to take it apart. You rich kids carry--"

"You took apart my helipack?" Jack screeched. Making a man who could probably tear him apart angry probably wasn't a good idea, but it was such a shock to hear that his helipack had been taken apart. "My grandma gave me that!"

"I see," the man said, his interest fading, "I thought for a moment I'd kidnapped a boy genius or something."

"You _thought?_ You did. I'm Jack Spicer, evil boy genius, and I could totally whip up another of those if I wanted. I just…don't. Sentimental value and all that."

"Are you, now?" The kidnapper's face returned to his amused expression that indicated the fact that he thought Jack was completely and utterly insane. Why did he keep thinking that?

"Uh-huh. And that thing I was building? Totally a shrink ray."

"I…see."

______________________________________________________________________________

"Jack _always_ screams." Kimiko insisted.

"Not like that." Omi was worried. There was something different about that scream, and while Jack wasn't one of his favorite people, he didn't want him hurt. He didn't want him in a situation where he felt he had to scream like _that_. "He sounded…truly frightened."

"Well, yeah, but Jack's 'truly frightened' of everything. He probably just saw a spider," Kimiko said.

"I don't know," Clay commented, "Omi could be right. Why don't we give that parrot another go?"

"Well…"

"Why not?" Rai asked, "Jack's probably fine. Might as well let those two hear so they stop worrying about him.

"Fine. Omniecho Parrot, let us hear Jack again."

Then the wooden bird spoke in Jack's voice. "So could you untie me? The rope's getting a bit uncomfortable."

"You know," Omi said, "It doesn't sound like Jack was screaming over a spider to me."


End file.
